Manufacturing optimization and synchronization process

ABSTRACT

A manufacturing optimization and synchronization process is provided in which data records for incomplete orders in the manufacturing and shipping facility are collected and sorted on a priority basis such that orders that have the fewest number of incomplete orders and that have the most total number of units ordered have the highest priority in the sorting process. This data is then displayed for the users on a real-time basis to identify those orders that, when completed, will have the greatest effect on the throughput and efficiency of the manufacturing and shipping process.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of manufacturing,and, more particularly, to a system and method for synchronizing andoptimizing a manufacturing process.

BACKGROUND

Products, including computer systems or any other information handlingsystem, can be manufactured according to a build-to-stock or abuild-to-order manufacturing process. A build-to-stock manufacturingmodel is characterized by the manufacture of quantities of identicalproducts on the basis of forecasted demand. A build-to-ordermanufacturing process is characterized by the manufacture of thecomputer system or other product, only after the time that an order isreceived for the product. A build-to-order manufacturing processfacilitates the manufacture of customized products in response tocustomer orders and reduces inventory requirements, as the products,once manufactured, may be-shipped directly to the customer. Abuild-to-order manufacturing process is described in U.S. Pat. No.6,236,901, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Most manufacturing environments include a manufacturing facility and ashipping facility. In some manufacturing environments, the manufacturingfacility is integrated with the shipping facility as part of a singlephysical facility. Once the manufacture of the product is complete, theproduct is shipped to the customer. Larger orders received from a singlecustomer are typically divided into lots for the purpose of tracking theorder, and manufacturing and shipping the order. Typically, there is amaximum number of ordered units per lot. One example of the maximumnumber of units in a lot may be fifty units. If the total number ofunits ordered is less than fifty, the lot size for the unit is thenumber of units ordered. As an example if a customer orders 100 units,the order will be divided into two lots of 50. If the customer ordersten units, the order will have a single lot of ten units. In thismanufacturing scheme, only completed lots will be shipped to thecustomer. If a fifty-unit lot of 200 unit order is complete, the lot maybe shipped to the customer. If a ten-unit lot of a ten-unit order iscomplete, the lot, which comprises the entire order, can be shipped tothe customer. In contrast, even if forty-nine units of a fifty-unit lotare complete, the incomplete lot is not shipped to the customer untilthe manufacture of the final unit of the lot is complete.

The shipping of an incomplete lot, sometimes referred to asshort-shipping, adds an undesirable administrative burden to theshipping and order fulfillment process. This administrative burden ismagnified when the manufacturing process involves the manufacture ofthousands of customized units each day to a multitude of customers. Toaccomplish short-shipping in this environment, the customer order wouldhave to be subdivided into one or more smaller orders. In addition,customers are accustomed to receiving all ordered units at once orreceiving ordered units in large lots (of fifty units, for example) forlarge-unit orders. Shipping incomplete lots or incomplete orders tocustomers tends to create customer confusion, as the number of unitsreceived does not match the number of units ordered. In contrast,shipping complete lots, which sometimes comprise complete orders in andof themselves, is an aid to the throughput of the manufacturing andshipping process.

The throughput of the entire manufacturing process may be compromised bythe accumulation of incomplete lots in the shipping facility. In theexample of the fifty-unit lot in which forty-nine units are complete,the completed units will typically be placed in the shipping facility orwarehouse. Depending on the physical characteristics of the units, theseunits may consume a substantial amount of floor space in the shippingfacility. If a sufficient number of incomplete, space-consuming lotsaccumulate in the shipping facility, the operation of the shippingfacility is hindered. If these incomplete lots are not completed,thereby allowing the completed lots to ship to the customer, all of theavailable storage space in the shipping facility will eventually beconsumed by incomplete lots. When this condition occurs, the entiremanufacturing process itself may shut down. Because it is no longerpossible to store completed units, no more units can be manufactureduntil space becomes available to temporarily house completed units. Inaddition, because each completed order must pass through the shippingfacility, if only briefly, each order that is in process in themanufacturing facility must be allocated space in the shipping facilityduring the time that the product is being manufactured. The allocationof space, even if the space is not used, to in-process orders furthercontributes to the consumption of space in the shipping facility.

Often, the accumulation of incomplete lots in the shipping facility isexacerbated by the manufacturing priority of completing themanufacturing of aged orders versus the shipping priority of shippinglarge lot orders to clear storage space in the shipping facility. Inmany manufacturing environments, the products are manufactured in buildcells. Typically, an order of fifty units will not be completed in asingle build cell. Instead, the order will be completed in parallelacross several build cells, with each build cell completing not morethan a handful of the units of the order. A goal of manufacturing is thecompletion of the oldest order, while the goal of a distribution processis to ship those lots that are nearest to completion and that areconsuming space in the shipping facility. Consider the example of twoorders of fifty units each and assume that the normal process time forthe completion of each order is ten hours. The first order (Order A) iscomplete with the exception of one unit and has an order age of just twohours. As such, forty-nine units of Order A are in the shipping facilityand will ship once the last unit of Order A is complete. The secondorder (Order B) includes twenty-five complete units and twenty-fiveincomplete units. Order B has an order age of twenty hours. Because itis often a goal of manufacturing to complete the order having the oldestorder age, the manufacturing personnel may place a priority incompleting Order B before Order A. Although, completing Order B beforeOrder A will permit manufacturing to clear from its record an agedorder, the failure to complete Order A will prevent a nearly completeorder from shipping. Preventing nearly complete Order A from shippingwill cause the completed units of Order A to consume space in theshipping facility and reduce the rate of overall throughput of themanufacturing and shipping process.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the present disclosure, a method and system isprovided for optimizing and synchronizing the throughput of amanufacturing and shipping facility. Data concerning incomplete ordersis collected and sorted, with each order or lot representing a separatedata record. The data records are sorted according to the data in therecord on a priority basis. The data records are first sorted by ordershaving the fewest number of incomplete units on an ascending basis. As asecond priority, the data records are sorted according to the largestnumber of total units in the order or lot on a descending basis. As athird priority, the data records are sorted according to the age of theorder on a descending basis. The data records are then displayed on areal-time basis on an Internal web server or computer system, such as acompany Intranet.

At least one technical advantage of the present disclosure is a methodfor identifying incomplete orders in the manufacturing facility thatmost affect the throughput of the manufacturing and shipping operations.By identifying those orders that have the fewest number of incompleteunits and that also have the highest number of units in the order, themanufacturing facility can complete those orders that will free the mostallocated space in the shipping facility. Another technical advantage ofthe present invention is a method for identifying the status ofincomplete orders in a manufacturing facility on a real-time basis. Thedata concerning the incomplete orders is collected from a manufacturingdatabase and a shipping database. Once this data has been collected,organized, and sorted, it is displayed on a company Intranet or internalweb site. Simply by refreshing the displayed web page, the data, andthereby the status of the manufacturing process, can be displayed almostinstantly, allowing personnel to identify those incomplete units thatmost affect the throughput of the manufacturing process. Anothertechnical advantage of the present disclosure is that the techniquedisclosed herein permits the manufacturing process to operate in anenvironment in which the goal of the manufacturing process—thecompletion of all orders in a timely manner—is aligned with the goal ofthe distribution process—shipping those orders that consume the mostspace in the shipping facility. The separate goals are aligned byidentifying for the manufacturer those orders that, when completed, willhave the greatest impact on the manufacturing facility and the shippingfacility. These identified orders, when completed, will both leave themanufacturing facility and clear allocated space in the shippingfacility. Other technical advantages will be apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art in view of the following specification,claims, and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present embodiments and advantagesthereof may be acquired by referring to the following description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencenumbers indicate like features, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a flow and logic diagram of the manufacturing, shipping, andinformation flow in a manufacturing environment;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a manufacturing and shipping optimizationprocess;

FIG. 3 is a displayed page of data that has been collected and sortedaccording to the flow diagram of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a manufacturing and shipping optimizationprocess; and

FIG. 5 is a displayed page of data that has been collected and sortedaccording to the flow diagram of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure concerns a method for optimizing the manufactureof units in a manufacturing location and the shipment of those unitsfrom a shipping location. The present disclosure permits the content ofunshipped units in the shipping facility to be associated and optimizedwith incomplete units in the manufacturing facility. The presentdisclosure describes a method of collecting and sorting data thatidentifies for the manufacturer those incomplete or unmanufactured unitsthat are most likely to interfere with the throughput rate of themanufacturing process. The sorting process of the present disclosurelikewise identifies those urnmanufactured units that, if completed,would aid the throughput of the manufacturing and shipping process.

Shown in FIG. 1 is a flow and logic diagram of the manufacturing,shipping, and information flow in a manufacturing environment. Asindicated in FIG. 1, following the manufacture of products at amanufacturing facility 10, products travel to a shipping facility 12,where they are collected and shipped to a customer 14. Manufacturingfacility 10 and shipping facility 12 may occupy the same physical space.Information concerning the status of the manufacturing process,including information concerning the status of orders is collected andplaced in a database 16. Information concerning the status of theshipping or distribution process is collected and placed in a database18. The optimization process 20 of the present disclosure collects datafrom the manufacturing database 16 and the shipping database 18.

Shown in FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a manufacturing and shippingoptimization process. At step 22, all available orders are retrievedfrom the shipping database, which is shown on FIG. 1 as database 18.Because shipped orders are limited in size to a lot of fifty units, thenumber of units in an order is limited to fifty units. Thus, even thougha customer may order a number of units, the maximum number of units thatcomprise an “order” for the sake of the flow diagram of FIG. 2 islimited to a maximum number, one example of which is fifty units. Atstep 24, complete orders are filtered from the list of total orders. Thefiltering step of step 24 is necessary because shipping database 18 mayinclude a listing of orders that are actually complete and will soon beshipped from the shipping facility. Because complete orders are ready tobe shipped, these orders do not need to be optimized with respect toincomplete units in the manufacturing facility. At step 24, all ordersare retrieved from the manufacturing database, which is shown on FIG. 1as database 16. At step 26, using data from the shipping database, thenumber of missing units from each order is calculated. This figure isdetermined by subtracting the number of units of the order that havebeen collected in the shipping facility from the total number of unitsin the order.

The flow of the optimization process of FIG. 2 continues on parallelpaths, using data from both shipping database 18 and manufacturingdatabase 16. Along one parallel path, processing continues at step 30,where the service tag of each order is identified from the data in themanufacturing database. The service tag of an order is a code thatidentifies the units of the order for the sake of providing technicalservice to the order. At step 32, data from the manufacturing databaseis used to identify the manufacturing line of any incomplete units inthe order. Because orders are typically divided among severalmanufacturing lines, it is possible that the incomplete units of anorder will be located on more than one manufacturing line. At step 34,the route of each order is determined from data in the manufacturingdatabase. The route of an order is the location of the order in themanufacturing process. In the case of the manufacture of a computersystem, the route of an order describes the location or themanufacturing step of the unit under manufacture. As an example, in thecase of the manufacture a computer system, the unit may be routed toinitial assembly or the unit may be routed to electromagnetic testing.The route of a unit describes the manufacturing step for the unit. Atstep 36, the age since the last route of the unit is determined fromdata in the manufacturing database. The aging calculation of step 36 iscalculation of the time that the unit has been in the currentmanufacturing station. At step 38, the cumulative age of the entireorder is calculated from data in the manufacturing database.

At step 40, the data from the shipping database is combined with datafrom the manufacturing database. The data from each database iscross-referenced against each other according to the unique order numberof each order, creating a data record for each order. Once the data foreach order has been collected, the data records can be sorted. At step42, the data records are first sorted on an ascending basis according tothe number of incomplete units in each order. As an illustration, thoseorders that have only one unit that has not yet been manufactured willhave priority in the sorting process as compared with those orders thathave tens of units that have not yet been manufactured. At step 44, thedata records are sorted on a descending basis according to order size.As a result of step 44, the largest orders that have the fewestincomplete items will have priority in the sorting process. The sortingof data records according to the number of incomplete units, on anascending basis, and by the total order size, on a descending basis,illustrates that the optimization process seeks to identify those ordersthat are the largest and are nearest to completion. In this way, thoseorders that are the largest and nearest to completion can be identified,and completed, to clear space at the shipping facility. At step 46, thedata records are sorted by the cumulative order age on a descendingbasis. As such, once the orders with the fewest incomplete units and themost units are identified, the records are sorted a third time toidentify those units that are cumulatively the oldest units. The step ofsorting by the oldest units demonstrates a policy towards identifyingthe oldest units, as judged by the cumulative order age. At step 48, thedata is displayed.

Shown in FIG. 3 is a example of the data that has been collected andsorted according to the flow diagram of FIG. 2. On the left side of thecolumns of sorted data is the column labeled “Order Number,” which isindicated at 50. The order number is the unique identifier for eachorder, with each order being limited to a maximum number of units. Inthe example of FIG. 3, the maximum number of units per order is fiftyunits. Column 52 of FIG. 3 is the service tag of each order. Column 54of FIG. 3 is the manufacturing line of each order. Column 56 identifiesthe number of units missing from the order, i.e., the number of unitsthat have not yet reached the shipping facility for bundling andshipment with the remainder of the units of the order. Column 56 issorted by the number of missing units on an ascending basis. As such,the orders or data records that have the highest priority will be thosethat have the fewest number of missing units. Column 58 identifies thetotal items in the order. The records are secondarily sorted accordingto the total items in the order on a descending basis. As shown in FIG.3, order number “828604942,” which has one missing unit and forty-eightunits in the order, has priority over order number “823691464,” whichhas one missing unit and forty-seven units in the order.

The priority of the larger order over the smaller order, given the samenumber of missing units, reflects the goal of completing orders thatfree the most space in the shipping facility. Completing an order offorty-eight units will free more space than completing an order offorty-seven units or ten units. Column 60 identifies the last route orthe most recent manufacturing location of the order. The four-digitidentifiers in the column 60 represent codes that identify for themanufacturer the manufacturing station of the unit. If more than oneunit is incomplete, the last route may be set as a default toidentifying the last route or manufacturing location of the unit that isat the earliest stage in the manufacturing process. Column 62, which istitled “Age,” represents the elapsed time of the unit in the currentroute or manufacturing station. Column 64, which is titled “Age sinceTP” is the age of the order since the time that the order was passed tomanufacturing. The age of the order, as shown in column 64, is the thirdcriteria for sorting. Sorting is done on a descending basis, therebyreflecting a priority for those orders that are the oldest among thoseorders having few units missing and a large number of total units.

The process of sorting the data identifies incomplete units in themanufacturing facility that, if left unfinished, are most likely toresults in delays in the manufacturing process, and that, if finished,are most likely to free physical space at the shipping facility. FIG. 3includes the legend, “The DC [shipping facility]could ship an additional5085 systems when these 1156 orders arrive. As such, when the 1156incomplete orders are completed, 5085 systems or units could leave theshipping facility. As it stands, however, the shipping facility mustallocate physical space for 5085 systems or units. The process ofcollecting and sorting data from the manufacturing and shipping facilityas described herein results in the identification of those incompletelymanufactured units that, if completed, would have a significant impacton the throughput of the manufacturing and shipping process. The processdescribed herein identifies those orders in manufacture that are few innumber and that, if completed, would result in the largest number ofunits being shipped, with a tertiary preference for those orders thatare the oldest in terms of cumulative age.

The data of the present invention can be updated on a real-time basis.The optimization application of the present invention may reside, forexample, on a corporation's internal web server. Upon initiating theoptimization application or hitting a refresh or reload key, data isretrieved from each of the manufacturing database and the shipping data.Following some calculation steps, the collected data is sorted andplaced in table, as shown in FIG. 3. Refreshing the table causes theabove-described process to be repeated, yielding real-time data that canbe requested by any user of the optimization program. Because theoptimization program can be made accessible through an Internal web siteor Intranet, real-time data concerning the status of the manufacturingprocess and its related effect on the shipping process may be refreshedand viewed by any member of the management, manufacturing, or shippingstaffs. As such, because of the sorting of records, manufacturingemployees are able to quickly recognize when an incomplete unit in theirarea of responsibility is negatively affecting the throughput of themanufacturing and shipping process. Similarly, management employees areable to recognize when a line or manufacturing location is a consistentsources of delays in the manufacturing process.

In addition to the methodology for sorting records of the flow diagramof FIG. 2, other sorting methodologies may be performed on the mergeddata from the manufacturing database and the shipping database. Shown inFIG. 4 is a subset of the flow diagram of FIG. 2. Steps 22-38 are notshown in FIG. 4, as these steps are identical to the steps describedabove with respect to FIG. 2. Following the step of merging the datacollected from the manufacturing database with data collected from theshipping database, the data records are sorted according to the stepsshown in FIG. 4. The data is first sorted in step 46 by the cumulativeorder age of each order, on a descending basis. Placing order step 46first assures that the oldest order will have priority in this sortinghierarchy. After step 46, the data records are sorted at step 48according to the number of missing units in each order. The sort of step46 is made on an ascending basis. Finally, at step 44, the data recordsare sorted on a descending basis according to the total number of unitsin the order. The sorting process of FIG. 4 assures that older orderswill have first priority, followed by a priority weighting for orderswith fewer number of incomplete orders, and orders with larger numbersof total units.

Shown in FIG. 5 is a set of data that has been sorted according to theflow diagram of FIG. 4. Although columns 50-64 are present in the tableof FIG. 5, as was the case in the table of FIG. 3, the data shown in theremainder of the table is different. First, the oldest order, asindicated by the highest number in the column “Age Since TP,” or thecumulative order age, has the highest priority. As shown in FIG. 5, datarecord “821473113” has the highest sorting priority because it is theoldest order as judged by its cumulative order age. Next, the datarecords or orders are sorted on an ascending basis according to thenumber of units missing from the order. The number of units missing fromthe data record or order is shown in column 56. Finally, the datarecords or orders are sorted according to the total size of the orderson a descending basis. The order size is shown in column 58.

The technique described in the present disclosure permits thepresentation of data concerning the status of the manufacturing andshipping facilities on a real-time basis. This data can be viewed on areal-time basis by those personnel responsible for the manufacturing andshipping facilities. The optimization process of the present disclosuresorts the orders to identify those unmanufactured units that have thegreatest effect on the throughput of the manufacturing process. Ordersare sorted on a priority basis to identify those orders that have, as afirst sorting priority, the fewest number of incomplete units, and, as asecond sorting priority, the largest number of total units in the order.Once the orders are sorted according to the disclosed sorting scheme,the records having the highest priority and the greatest effect on thethroughput of the manufacturing and shipping process are identified. Inaddition, individual unmanufactured units within these orders areidentified. Once identified, these unmanufactured units can be handledby the manufacturing facility so that he manufacturing of these units iscompleted quickly and the entire lot of the order can be shipped as awhole to the customer.

It should be recognized that the method described in the presentdisclosure is not limited to the manufacture of computer systems.Rather, the techniques described herein may be applied with equaleffectiveness to a manufacturing process for any item.

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail, it shouldbe understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations canbe made hereto without departing from the spirit and the scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for identifying incomplete orders in amanufacturing facility, wherein each order includes a number of units,comprising the steps of: collecting data concerning orders; identifyingfor each order the number of units for which manufacturing is notcomplete; identifying for each order the number of units in the order;identifying for each order the age of the order; and sorting the orders,wherein the sorting process assigns highest priority among the orders tothe order having the fewest number of units for which manufacturing isnot complete, wherein the sorting process assigns next highest priorityto the order having the largest number of units in the order, andwherein the sorting process assigns next highest priority to the orderhaving the greatest order age.
 2. The method for identifying incompleteorders in a manufacturing facility of claim 1, further comprising thestep of displaying the sorted orders.
 3. The method for identifyingincomplete orders in a manufacturing facility of claim 2, wherein thedisplay of each order includes a display of the unique order number forthe order, the number of incomplete units in the order, the number ofunits in the order, and the age of the order.
 4. The method foridentifying incomplete orders in a manufacturing facility of claim 1,wherein the step of collecting data concerning orders comprises thesteps of, retrieving a list of all orders from a database of all ordersin a shipping facility; removing from the list all complete orders; andretrieving from a manufacturing database data on the orders that remainon the list of orders retrieved from the shipping facility.
 5. Themethod for identifying incomplete orders in a manufacturing facility ofclaim 3, further comprising the steps of, identifying at least onemanufacturing line of each order; and displaying the manufacturing lineof each order in the display of the sorted orders.
 6. The method foridentifying incomplete orders in a manufacturing facility of claim 5,further comprising the steps of, identifying at least one manufacturinglocation of each unit in the manufacturing line; and displaying thelocation of each unit in the manufacturing line in the display of sortedorders.
 7. The method for identifying incomplete orders in amanufacturing facility of claim 6, further comprising the steps of,identifying the elapsed time of at least one unit in the manufacturinglocation in the manufacturing line; and displaying the elapsed time ofat least one unit in the manufacturing location in the manufacturingline.
 8. A method for synchronizing the throughput of a manufacturingfacility with the throughput of a shipping facility, comprising thesteps of: collecting data concerning the unshipped orders in a shippingfacility; collecting data concerning the incomplete orders in themanufacturing facility; merging and sorting the data concerning theunshipped orders in a shipping facility with the data concerning theincomplete orders in the manufacturing facility such that each order issorted for display according to the following criteria: orders havingthe fewest number of incomplete units have highest priority; ordershaving the largest number of total units have next priority; and ordershaving the oldest age have the next priority; and displaying the mergedand sorted data.
 9. The method for synchronizing the throughput of amanufacturing facility with the throughput of a shipping facility ofclaim 8, wherein the data is merged according to a unique order numberassigned to each order.
 10. The method for synchronizing the throughputof a manufacturing facility with the throughput of a shipping facilityof claim 8, wherein the collected and displayed data includes, for eachorder, the manufacturing line of at least one of the units of the order.11. The method for synchronizing the throughput of a manufacturingfacility with the throughput of a shipping facility of claim 10, whereinthe collected and displayed data includes, for each order, the locationon the manufacturing line of at least one unit.
 12. The method forsynchronizing the throughput of a manufacturing facility with thethroughput of a shipping facility of claim 11, wherein the collected anddisplayed data includes, for each order, the elapsed time of at leastone unit in the location on the manufacturing line.
 13. The method forsynchronizing the throughput of a manufacturing facility with thethroughput of a shipping facility of claim 8, further comprising thestep of continually executing the steps of collecting data, merging andsorting the data, and displaying the data such that the data isdisplayed on a real-time basis.
 14. The method for synchronizing thethroughput of a manufacturing facility with the throughput of a shippingfacility of claim 8, wherein the step of collecting data concerning theunshipped orders in a shipping facility comprises the step of collectingdata from a database associated with a shipping facility; and whereinthe step of collecting data concerning the incomplete orders in themanufacturing facility comprises the step of collecting data from adatabase associated with a manufacturing facility.
 15. A method formanaging the throughput of a manufacturing and shipping process,comprising the steps of: collecting data concerning partially completeorders; establishing a data record for each order; sorting the datarecords such that data record is sorted according to the followingcriteria: orders having the fewest number of incomplete units havehighest priority; orders having the largest number of total units havenext priority; and orders having the oldest age have the next priority;and displaying the merged and sorted data on a real-time basis.
 16. Themethod for managing the throughput of a manufacturing and shippingprocess of claim 15, wherein the step of collecting data concerningpartially complete orders comprises the steps of, identifying all ordersfor which at least one complete unit is located in the shippingfacility; and collecting data from the manufacturing facility for thoseorders for which at least one complete unit is located in the shippingfacility.
 17. The method for managing the throughput of a manufacturingand shipping process of claim 15, wherein the display of each datarecord includes a display of the unique order number for the order, thenumber of incomplete units in the order, the number of units in theorder, and the age of the order.
 18. The method for managing thethroughput of a manufacturing and shipping process of claim 15, whereinthe display of each data record includes a display of at least onemanufacturing line of each order.
 19. The method for managing thethroughput of a manufacturing and shipping process of claim 18, whereinthe display of each data record includes a display of at least onemanufacturing location for the manufacturing line displayed for eachorder.
 20. The method for managing the throughput of a manufacturing andshipping process of claim 19, wherein the display of each data recordincludes a display of the elapsed time of the unit in the manufacturinglocation displayed for the order.